PlayStation have officially confirmed that the ability to change your PSN username is coming, after years of demand.
Unlike its rival system, the Xbox 360 and now the Xbox One X, PSN users were unable to ever change their username after creating it.
Microsoft would in fact charge Xbox Live users a fee to change their name, which many players obliged to, but Sony were still reluctant.
On October 10, PlayStation announced that changes to your PSN Online ID “is coming”, starting with a select group of test users. This preview program will end in November 2018.
If you are not one of the lucky test users, you will need to wait until 2019, when a full roll out is planned for the feature.
The first name change will be free, and any subsequent changes will cost $9.99, or $4.99 for PlayStation Plus members.
It's official: the ability to change your PSN Online ID is coming. Here are the first details: https://t.co/dSBprNkjDZ Testing with select users starts soon, full rollout planned for early 2019 pic.twitter.com/4eM4lkNo9y
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 10, 2018
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Additionally, when you change your name, “you will have the option to display your previous ID with your new ID, so your friends can recognize you.” Once you have decided to display your old ID or not, you will not be able to revert this decision.
Not all games will actually support the feature, but PlayStation says “a large majority of the most-played PS4 games” will, as well as any game “originally published after April 1, 2018”.
“This feature is compatible with PS4 games originally published after April 1, 2018, and a large majority of the most-played PS4 games that were released before this date. However, please note not all games and applications for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita systems are guaranteed to support the online ID change, and users may occasionally encounter issues or errors in certain games.”
If users do experience errors or issues after a name change, they can simply revert back to their old name for free at any time, but you can only revert back once during the preview program.
When the program is full rolled out in 2019, PlayStation say they will release a full list of compatible games, so you can check before making a change.
Source: PlayStation